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Friday, September 9, 2016

Diary of Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle: Saturday, June 20, 1863

Armed with letters of introduction from the Secretary-at-War for
Generals Lee and Longstreet, I left Richmond at 6 A.M., to join the Virginian
army. I was accompanied by a sergeant of the Signal Corps, sent by my kind
friend Major Norris, for the purpose of assisting me in getting on. We took the
train as far as Culpepper, and arrived there at 5.30 P.M., after having changed
cars at Gordonsville, near which place I observed an enormous pile of excellent
rifles rotting in the open air. These had been captured at Chancellorsville;
but the Confederates have already such a superabundant stock of rifles that
apparently they can afford to let them spoil. The weather was quite cool after
the rain of last night. The country through which we passed had been in the
enemy's hands last year, and was evacuated by them after the battles before Richmond;
but at that time it was not their custom to burn, destroy, and devastate —
everything looked green and beautiful, and did not in the least give one the
idea of a hot country.

In his late daring raid, the Federal General Stoneman crossed this
railroad, and destroyed a small portion of it, burned a few buildings, and
penetrated to within three miles of Richmond; but he and his men were in such a
hurry that they had not time to do much serious harm.

Culpepper was, until five days ago, the headquarters of Generals Lee
and Longstreet; but since Ewell's recapture of Winchester, the whole army had
advanced with rapidity, and it was my object to catch it up as quickly as
possible. On arriving at Culpepper, my sergeant handed me over to another
myrmidon of Major Norris, with orders from that officer to supply me with a
horse, and take me himself to join Mr Lawley, who had passed through for the
same purpose as myself three days before.

Sergeant Norris, my new chaperon, is cousin to Major Norris, and is a
capital fellow. Before the war he was a gentleman of good means in Maryland,
and was accustomed to a life of luxury; he now lives the life of a private
soldier with perfect contentment, and is utterly indifferent to civilisation
and comfort. Although he was unwell when I arrived, and it was pouring with
rain, he proposed that we should start at once — 6 P.M. I agreed, and we did
so. Our horses had both sore backs, were both unfed, except on grass, and mine
was deficient of a shoe. They nevertheless travelled well, and we reached a
hamlet called Woodville, fifteen miles distant, at 9.30. We had great
difficulty in procuring shelter; but at length we overcame the inhospitality of
a native, who gave us a feed of corn for our horses, and a blanket on the floor
for ourselves.